


Unnamed Journal

by RainingColours



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Gen, POV Outsider, Worldbuilding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-24
Updated: 2018-03-24
Packaged: 2019-04-07 04:58:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,874
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14073381
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RainingColours/pseuds/RainingColours
Summary: There is a strange kid in the woods. The villagers are afraid. The lands are dying. Old legends and shadows are stirring.I am just writing the stories that people who pass by my inn tell me. Hopefully it helps.Because when you have lived as long as I have, you know only stories remain.





	Unnamed Journal

He is a very strange child.

 

According to the villagers who whisper -half in fear, and half in gratitude-, he is the remnant of a history that the people refuse to talk about.

 

I met him only once, back when we had to forage outside the village limits into the forest due to the bad harvest, and the harsh oncoming winter.

 

The name of the village? I don’t know. I am a traveling hunter, hoping to make it to the castle of Insomnia. I was just there for a quick stock up, before departing. But the plans had fallen apart with the sudden snowstorm that hit the area.

 

It had snowed for days, covering every surface in a cold, glittering blanket that seeped into the leather-skin boots, freezing your toes, chilling your bones. You couldn’t feel your fingertips due to the temperature, and your hands refused to move properly, already half dead due to the frostbite that had creeped in through the gaps in your gloves.

 

I would know, because I was there, and I am telling the story.

 

The snow crunched every time you stepped on it, and the whiteness of the landscape literally was enough to blind you. I kid you not. It was that white.

Apart from your footsteps, there was nothing but absolute silence. Seriously.

The twisted, dead trees of the forest only made the picture more eerie.

 

What was I hoping to find in this dead, white wasteland? I told you already. Weren’t you listening? Food. Anything that would be edible. At least the carcass of a frozen dead animal. Or shrubbery.

 

I don’t know. I told you, didn’t I? The village was bad. Starving was common, dying from the cold was common. Wasting away was common. Death was a perpetual entity that lived amongst the people.

 

So, back to the story.

 

I was foraging, or hunting, whichever came first. I only had the worn, useless shortbow that creaked ominously with every draw of the string, and I always thought that this would be the last time I used this stupid thing before it snapped in half and took out an eye.

 

What? That every bow creaks when drawn? You don’t know, do you? Shiva, that is more stupid that I thought. It makes a different sound, you idiot.

 

Anyway. That day was a bust too. Nothing in sight, nothing to eat.

I was miserable, cold, starved, and was planning on just going back, or camping out, I don’t know. I didn’t want to go back and face the hungry ghosts that moaned and roamed in the village, but I didn’t want to stay out and freeze to death either.

 

I was munching on the elm bark that I had packed, just to trick myself it was similar to eating. And the mechanical motion of doing someting with your teeth, I dunno. I guess it was calming.

 

Something dark passed overhead me, and I was immediately drawing the bow, and aiming.

 

An eagle!

 

Can you believe that? A fucking eagle. It was the wrong climate, the wrong place, the wrong time, the wrong everything for the bird to be lazily circling in the sky, and for a second I thought I was hallucinating, or that the cold had gotten to my brain.

 

But I wasn’t going to let go this once in a lifetime chance to eat meat.

So, I aimed, prayed to Ramuh for my arrow to fly and hit true just like the fulgurian’s lightning, and fired.

 

Or, I was about to, if it wasn’t for a fucking kid suddenly blocking my sight.

 

Ifrit’s balls, I almost took the kid’s eye out with the scare. Overhead, the eagle cried sharply once, as if mocking me, and I immediately unstrung the notched arrow, fuming.

 

What the fuck, kid, what the fuck, you almost got killed you stupid fuck, don’t you know what NOT to do when hunters hunt?

 

Yeah, I started berating the child who had stood up on top of a fallen log to match my height, and fucking distract me from the meal, that I didn’t notice how odd it was to see a child in the middle of the dead woods.

 

It was... strange, to say the very least.

 

He was the first splash of colour in a long time. You know, when you just waste away, and everything seems muted and dim? Yeah, that was how I was feeling, next to the hundreds of the dying in the village.

 

But here he was.

 

His hair was a soft russet that fell to his eyes, and he was bundled up in layers and layers of garula pelt that dwarfed him.

He had different medallions carved of ash and cherry wood that clonked noisily every time he shifted his weight from one foot to the other, and-

 

I don’t know, okay? Now that I’m saying it doesn’t look like much, but at the time, I swear on Ifrit’s balls that he looked... off.

 

Maybe his eyes? Or his face that seemed so at peace when he almost died with an arrow lodged to his face? Or that there was a kid in the middle of nowhere? I don’t know, okay?

 

His sharp eyes were trained on me the entire time, and I swear, that they were unnatural. They were green in colour, but...

 

Anyway, he raised his small hands and said simply, “No”.

 

“No what, kid? Go back home. You know this is the perfect place to get eaten by the monsters”.

 

He stubbornly stood there, in his-ill fitting garula coat and noisy trinkets hanging from his neck, and just kept repeating,

 

“No”

 

My patience was stretched to the limit, I was angry that I lost a possible hunt, so I immediately snapped and loomed over him, hoping that if I could intimidate the kid with my size, he would go away.

 

“You know the village is dying kid. I, we need to eat. There is nothing for you here. Got it? Now get lost! That piece of bird is my prey, so you can’t spout shit like that”

 

The kid continued to stare at me.

 

“Okay, you know what? Screw this. I’ll hunt whether or not you get in the way this time, and I won’t be responsible if your parents find you dead with an arrow lodged to the neck or something”

 

With that, I stalked away from the kid, looking at the sky. Luckily, the damn bird was still circling overhead, so I notched another arrow, and aimed. This time, I wasn’t going to miss, whether or not the kid jumped in front of me again.

 

And guess what?

 

I missed again. Not because I was a bad hunter or anythinig, but because the shortbow caught on fire.

 

Yeah, you heard that right.

 

One moment, the bow was strung and tense, and the other, fwoom! It literally burst into flame and I yelped, dropping the charred shit.

 

What the fuck. Yeah. I know.

 

The bow had blackened to the point of being unrecognizable, and when the wind flew by, it disintegrated into motes of ash and cinder.

 

And the kid was right next to me, looking far too smug to be an innocent smile.

I clenched my hand, still feeling the smarting brush of the fire that had eaten away at the leather glove, and looked down at the kid.

 

“You shouldn’t hunt the guardian of the woods. He is the one that keeps an eye out for the oncoming scourge”

 

What.

 

“The starscourge. The dawn that can keep it at bay has not arrived yet, but do not worry. I am watching the night sky for the sign”

 

I sighed. The kid was not only weird, but also had worms in his head. That could be the only explanation why he was out here, talking funny, and such, right?

When he realized I wasn’t responding, he smiled serenely, as if that explained everything.

 

“A trade, huntsman. Please give me the first sacrifice the village will offer to the deities walking the earth, and I will give you the first spring seeds of tomorrow”

 

I was absolutely flabbergasted but I nodded my head at the kid. What else could I lose? Or the village for that matter? There was nothing left in the place that would be worth of anything, much less to be considered as a divine sacrifice. I guessed that’s what he meant, since he said ‘deities’. So probably he meant some trash or something the people threw away.

 

“Sure, yeah. Whatever”.

 

But the kid seemed oddly pleased by my word, and started rummaging inside the garula coat pockets. The carved medallions jangled noisily everytime he jostled something, and the sound ringed harshly amidst the silent forest utterly devoid of life.

 

At last, he produced a small anakskin pouch, and held it aloft to me. I took it wordlessly, and opened it peering down at its content.

 

Seeds.

 

Seriously? It was the dead of winter. Harvesting time had passed a long time ago, and it wouldn’t come for another eon.

The lands were dying for some reason, just like the village people who were starving. So when the kid said ‘spring seeds’ I did not think seeds, as in the literal pieces of shit that grows on soil.

 

My face must have done something funny because the kid snorted and tried covering up his laughter. At my probably irate expression, he calmed down, and explained.

 

“Place it under your house. The ostara will come earlier, gladdened by the offer”

 

I could feel my eyebrows climbing up, and shrugged. The kid had worms in his head. At least I could give the seeds to Cor as emergency rations to distribute to the villagers if the situation got any worse. It probably wouldn’t do any good to quell the hunger, but it would be nice to have a last meal before wasting away.

 

Who is Cor? Really? And you call yourself the innkeeper? Cor, the immortal! He is one of the best travelling hunters out there, and he was in the nameless village with me because he was trapped due to the snowstorm as well! Ifrit, you really don’t get many customers, do you? Anyway.

 

When I turned from the kid and started walking back to the path that would lead me to the village, the soft voice piped up again.

 

“Please don’t forget. The first sacrifice to the deities. I will come by when the time comes to collect my due”.

 

Ominous words for a kid? Sure.

But I was certain that it would be the whims of a kid who had brain-diseases, or a make-play. After all, I was leaving the village as soon as the paths were safe enough to travel, and absolutely did not have any plans or whatsoever to stay in that grimy village for any longer.

 

That was... five months ago? And here I am, telling you this shitty story drinking this shitty ale, in this shitty inn. I guess I am rambling and drunk.

 

Barkeep! More!

 

Oh, yeah. I heard something funny too later on, you know?

Apparently spring arrived at least months ahead of schedule in that village. Ha! Funny how nature works, doesn’t it?

 

**Author's Note:**

> I like worldbuilding. I like magic. So why not both? And I like Ignis. Enough said.  
> Tags will be added as chapters are updated.


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